McClintock way ahead financially

SAN ANDREAS - Republican incumbent Rep. Tom McClintock's lopsided advantage in the race for the 4th Congressional District is vividly apparent in the campaign.

Dana M. Nichols

SAN ANDREAS - Republican incumbent Rep. Tom McClintock's lopsided advantage in the race for the 4th Congressional District is vividly apparent in the campaign.

McClintock beat Democrat Jack Uppal by more than 29 percentage points in the June 5 primary election, has raised 27 times as much money as Uppal, and so far Uppal has been unable to find a way to meet McClintock for a debate.

"We are facing an uphill battle but continuing to battle on," said Uppal, a retired semiconductor industry executive who lives in Lincoln. "We haven't been successful in setting up a debate with Mr. McClintock."

McClintock, for his part, says he is perfectly willing to debate Uppal under the right circumstances.

"I'd be happy to debate Jack in a neutral forum the moment he takes the race seriously," McClintock said. "But he is not. He hasn't raised enough money to be competitive in a county supervisor's race let alone in a Congressional race."

It's true Uppal's fundraising has been paltry. By the end of June, he'd raised just $30,956 including a $5,000 loan to himself.

McClintock had raised $859,707 without loans to himself.

Uppal said he disagrees with the idea that raising money is the measure of a serious candidate.

"If his definition of a serious candidate is someone who gets corporate money and union money, then yeah, I am not a serious candidate," Uppal said.

As for neutral debate locations, McClintock rejected an invitation from the League of Women Voters because that organization, he said, takes positions identical to those of the Democratic Party.

Although the campaign has been light on mailers and media buys, the candidates have made their positions known through websites, public appearances and interviews.

Uppal advocates a mass expansion of federal investment in forestry and alternative energy programs, and he says such investments would spur job growth.

McClintock, a small-government conservative, says federal spending on alternative energy is already creating more Solyndra-type boondoggles. He says the way to spur job growth is to lower taxes and regulation on the private sector and reduce government spending and borrowing.

Uppal describes himself as a moderate who could use the negotiating skills he learned as an executive to ease the gridlock in Congress. He said he believes voters want to send people to Congress to collaborate in nonideological ways to solve problems.

McClintock said he sees this election as a referendum on whether individuals should be free to pursue their interests or whether a Democrat-led government will reduce freedoms and continue to develop a society in which individuals are "subordinated to the mandates of government bureaucrats."